I would genuinely love to know where the current Administration gets its Constitutional authority for the take-over of private entities such as GM, medical insurance, banks and the like. I would love to know how you arrive at the idea that Obama is not violating the Constitution by creating a shadow government of unelected and unaccountable Czars empowered to make lasting changes on the American public without ever being discussed in the Congress. I want to know by what Constitutional authority he is spending money that can NEVER be paid-back? I want you to explain to us all - oh Constitutional scholar - just where in the Constitution does the power to fundamentally change our government into a Socialist one come from. Please tell me where does the federal government get its Constitutional power to usurp States rights? I for one can think of many egregious examples of the current (and former) Administrations overstepping the bounds of their Constitutional authority, but then I’m not as highly educated as some. How someone so learned could miss these many glaring examples (and more besides) and claim unabashedly that they do not see what all of the fuss is about defies logic. 

The argument that previous Administrations did it too, does not fly either. No other Administration before has done so much so fast in the history of the United States to fundamentally change this country into something that it was never intended to be. The framers had a very different understanding of the Constitution and its powers and limitations than dose the Obama Administration. I doubt seriously if many within the current Administration have even read, let alone take the Constitution seriously. The Constitution of the United States is not as many espouse a “living” document. The only “change” to its functioning requires a vote, and the office of the President does not get one no matter what the current occupant of the White House thinks!

By the way, there is no equivalence to what is happening today with the examples sited in your last post like women’s voting rights. Generational theft is not a right of the Federal Government.

As for Carter’s place in history, I’ll concede that his being the [worst ever] is my opinion and your take is yours. I just remember; the highest interest rates in history, the worst economy in history (excepting the “Great Depression”), the biggest American foreign policy humiliation in history and gas lines as just a few of the examples that bring me to that conclusion.

“Obama not violating the Constitution” would be laughable if it weren’t so very scarily true that he is.

Some people from the far right of political discourse were saying before Obama spoke to the nation’s school children September 8^th, that his intention was the evil indoctrination of our youth surmising that the speech would be a chance for the President to call the children to his side and agenda. Most folks of reason took a wait-and-see attitude. Now that the speech is over some of those very same early detractors are now saying that the speech given was not the speech intended, or the original speech.   They are claiming that had the Presidents “secret plan” not been “discovered” it would have been a very different speech entirely. These claims are baseless and altogether un-knowable.

What is true is that the speech was not dangerous, offensive or indoctrinating. What is true is that the President used his speech to inspire and motivate the youth of America.

So what was all the fuss about from the right? Did their early onset reaction make them look like reactionary kooks who bring nothing more than knee-jerk hysteria to the discourse? Or was there something more behind the threats to keep children home from school and angry phone calls to District Superintendents and talk of “opting out” of viewing the speech? The far left already thinks the worst of them and can never be persuaded to think it through. Then there are the rest of us.

The fault if there is any lies squarely on President Obama’s shoulders. This incident serves as an illustration of the fact that character counts, logic and thoughtful planning count too. The President has a credibility gap as large as the Grand Canyon with many Americans. While it is true for example that both Presidents Reagan and Bush-41 both did speak to students during their administrations; both limited their remarks to small (older) age groups and neither speech was delivered at a time that interfered with actual class-room instruction time. Neither speech attempted to include (all) students in America. Neither speech was delivered by an administration which implied that it should be compulsory and would be delivered as a secret “present” to everyone with no one knowing what would ultimately jump out of the box. One does not have to be a parent to realize for example, that one can not talk to kindergarteners and 12^th graders at the same time in the same way and have them both get the same message. Obama’s speech was timed to coincide with the first day of school for a majority of kids, teachers, parents and administrators. It does not take a genius to recognize that on the very first day of school at 9:00am (PST) all of those groups would have serious issues interrupting the start of school by stopping to listen to a speech. Teachers have barely begun to seat and learn the names of all of their new charges by 9:00am. School secretaries and administrators are still checking in new students at 9:00am. The kids are excited to see last year’s friends again and are in no mood for the musings of the President whom they’ve barely heard of. All of this after the final fun weekend of the summer. The President’s address came with instructions for teachers as to how they could best prepare students to listen and respond to the speech. How in the world on the first day of school do the Secretary of Education and the President of the United States think that teachers have time to “prepare” students “in advance” to listen to a speech delivered with such ridiculously short preparation? This flies in the face of common sense and all logic and thus has to make one wonder before-hand if there weren’t a hidden agenda behind it all?

If you couple the horrendous timing and logistics behind the speech with many people’s already raw feelings regarding this administration, it is no leap to see how frightened so many might be of the gift offered by this President. It’s a bit like pulling the finger of crazy Uncle Ed. You usually only do it once because you live with the image of what happened last time Uncle Ed came to visit and what could potentially happen if you trust him twice. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” President Obama is Americas Uncle Ed. Many do not trust him because they have seen and experienced his brand of “humor” before and simply want no part of it now. No one could blame people for being a bit stand-offish or even slightly reticent to accept the President’s offer to the children without properly vetting the gift first.

The President has a character problem with the American people too. That is another reason that folks were skeptical in giving him the benefit of the doubt by allowing him unfettered access to their kids. At school, students are a captive audience and parents must remain vigilant if they wish to protect them from the harm of discordant or down right false messages. Parents need to know in advance what is being taught; how and what are the agendas being pushed by outsiders on their little “skulls full of mush”. If they do not trust an individual for some reason then it is very logical for them to not believe with abandon that that person will do the right thing just because they promised it would be so. You wouldn’t let your child eat home made sweets at Halloween from a home you didn’t know because they appear delicious any more than you would let them be exposed to ideas that you felt could harm them. People will argue that “all” ideas have merit and none should be off the table of discussion. For children in particular, nothing could be further from the truth. A conversation about the dangers and evils of hate philosophies espoused by the KKK might be appropriate for older students but is hardly of value to little ones that are still learning to share toys with one another. Discussions of NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association) doctrine are not welcome by the average parent at any time. Adults can think and reason for themselves and by the time they get to college are perhaps grounded sufficiently to engage in serious issue dialogue, but not so every child. I do not mean to imply that the Presidents credibility gap has risen to that of NAMBLA; but to many Americans he is indeed crazy Uncle Ed and must be watched like a hawk lest he be let loose to wreck havoc on the children. The concern people feel is directly proportional to their fear of the individual or the unknown or the falsehoods that have caught them before. Had the President thought this through better and handled the speech differently he could have and would have eliminated the controversy altogether. To blame American parents for being thoughtless ideologues misses the point completely.

Experience

Obama –

Community Organizer 1985 – 1988 (Excerpted from Malkin Sept. 5 2008) Obama's community organizing days involved training grievance-mongers from the far-left ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). The ACORN mob is infamous for its bully tactics (which they dub "direct actions"); Obama supporters have recounted his role in organizing an ambush on a government planning meeting about a landfill project opposed by Chicago's minority lobbies. ACORN has milked nearly four decades of government subsidies to prop up chapters that promote the welfare state and undermine the free market, as well as some that have been implicated in perpetuating illegal immigration and voter fraud.

Last week, Milwaukee's top election official announced plans to seek criminal investigations of 37 ACORN employees accused of offering gifts to sign up voters (including prepaid gas cards and restaurant cards) or falsifying driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers or other information on voter registration cards.

Last month, a New Mexico TV station reported on the child rapists, drug offenders and forgery convicts on ACORN's payroll. In July, Pennsylvania investigators asked the public for help in locating a fugitive named Luis R. Torres-Serrano, who is accused "of submitting more than 100 fraudulent voter registration forms he collected on behalf of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now to county election officials." Also in July, a massive, nearly $1 million embezzlement scheme by top ACORN officials was exposed.

ACORN's political arm endorsed Obama in February and has ramped up efforts to register voters across the country. In the meantime, completely ignored by the mainstream commentariat and clean-election crusaders, the Obama campaign admitted failing to report $800,000 in campaign payments to ACORN. They were disguised as payments to a front group called "Citizen Services, Inc." for "advance work."

Jim Terry, an official from the Consumer Rights League, a watchdog group that monitors ACORN, noted: "ACORN has a long and sordid history of employing convoluted Enron-style accounting to illegally use taxpayer funds for their own political gain. Now it looks like ACORN is using the same type of convoluted accounting scheme for Obama's political gain." With a wave of his magic wand, Obama amended his FEC forms to change the "advance work" to "get-out-the-vote" work.

Harvard Law Review 1988 - 1991

At the end of his first year Obama was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review based on his grades and a writing competition. In his second year he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review's staff of 80 editors. Obama's election in February 1990 as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles. He graduated with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cm laude from Harvard in 1991 and returned to Chicago where he had worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.

 Project Vote 1993 – 1994

Obama directed Illinois Project Vote from April to October 1992, a voter registration drive with a staff of 10 and 700 volunteers that achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.

Project Vote often coordinates voter registration campaigns with local chapters of the community organization ACORN and has worked with organizations such as Demos, National Voting Rights Institute, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Fair Elections Legal Network regarding election administration policy and voting rights, including enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act through research, litigation and technical assistance.

Writes Memoirs 1995 age 34

The publicity from his election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations. The manuscript was finally published as Dreams from My Father in mid-1995

Teacher / University Chicago School of Law 1996 – 2004 (2002 Law License expires)

Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, as a Lecturer for four years (1992–1996), and as a Senior Lecturer for eight years (1996–2004).

In 1993 Obama joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 12-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.

Illinois State Legislature 1997 – 2004

Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996. Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws. He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures, and in 2003, Obama sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations. Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, and again in 2002.

US Senator (Junior) 2005 – Present

Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 4, 2005. Obama was the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history, and the third to have been popularly elected. He is the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus. CQ Weekly, a nonpartisan publication, characterized him as a "loyal Democrat" based on analysis of all Senate votes in 2005–2007, and the National Journal ranked him as the "most liberal" senator based on an assessment of selected votes during 2007. Barack Obama has voted with a majority of his Democratic colleagues 96.0% of the time during the current Congress.

Voting records are too long to add here but you can check them for yourself at: http://obama.senate.gov/votes/

Experience

Biden –

US Senator 1973 - Present

Biden trained as a lawyer and became a senator in 1973 at the Constitutional minimum age of 30, making him the fifth-youngest senator in U.S. history. He is a long-time member and current chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and has worked on resolutions concerning the Yugoslav wars and Iraq War. Biden unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008. 

In 1961, Biden graduated from Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware. He attended the University of Delaware in Newark, where he graduated with a double major in history and political science in 1965. He went on to receive his J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law in 1968, and was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1969. Biden received five student draft deferments during this period, with the first coming in late 1963 and the last in early 1968, at the peak of the Vietnam War.

Biden took office on January 3, 1973. Biden has since won additional terms easily, usually with about 60 percent of the vote. In 2007, Biden reported that he "garnered $67 million worth of projects" for his constituents through congressional earmarks.

Biden serves on the following committees in the 110th U.S. Congress

Committee on Foreign Relations (chairman)

Committee on the Judiciary

Biden has a lifetime average "liberal" score of 77.5 percent, according to a National Journal analysis that places him ideologically among the center of Senate Democrats. The ACLU gives him an 86 percent lifetime score, with a 91 percent score for the current session of Congress.

Experience

McCain –

Military Service 1958 – 1981

McCain graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981. McCain attended the National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. during 1973–1974. Having been rehabilitated, by late 1974, McCain had his flight status reinstated, and in 1976 he became commanding officer of a training squadron stationed in Florida. He improved the unit's flight readiness and safety records, and won the squadron its first-ever Meritorious Unit Commendation.

US Congress 1982 – 1986

Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms representing Arizona's 1st congressional district. He was elected the president of the 1983 Republican freshman class of representatives. McCain was assigned to the Committee on Interior Affairs building up his expertise on issues important to Arizonans such as water rights and other natural resources, public land management, and Native American affairs. 

US Senator 1987 – Present

Upon entering the Senate in 1987, he became a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, with whom he had formerly done his Navy liaison work; he also joined the Commerce Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee. McCain was a key member of the 1991–1993 Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. In 1997, McCain became chairman of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee.

Experience

Sarah Palin completed her Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho, graduating in 1987. In 1988, she worked as a sports reporter for KTUU-TV in Anchorage, Alaska. She also helped in her husband’s family commercial fishing business.

City Council 1992 – 1995

Palin began her political career in 1992, when she ran for a three-year term on the Wasilla city council, supporting a controversial new sales tax and advocating "a safer, more progressive Wasilla." She won, and was re-elected to a second three-year term in 1995.

Mayor 1996 – 2005

In 1996, Palin challenged and defeated incumbent John Stein for the office of mayor. During her first term, the state Republican Party began grooming her for higher office. As mayor of Wasilla, Palin was in charge of the city Police Department, consisting of 25 officers, and Public Works. She was praised for cutting property taxes by 40% while improving roads and sewers and strengthening the Police Department. She also reduced the mayoral salary, reduced spending on the town museum, and opposed a bigger library. Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and was returned to office by a margin of 909 to 292 votes. Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. During her second term as mayor, Palin hired the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for earmarks for Wasilla. The effort was led by Steven Silver, a former chief of staff for Senator Ted Stevens, and it secured nearly $27 million in earmarked funds. The earmarks included $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project linking Wasilla and the ski resort community of Girdwood. Some of the earmarks were criticized by Senator McCain. In 2002, Governor Murkowski appointed Palin to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, where she chaired the Commission from 2003 to 2004, and also served as Ethics Supervisor.  Palin resigned in January 2004 in protest over what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Republican members. After resigning, Palin filed formal complaints against the state Republican Party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes. She accused Ruedrich, one of her fellow commissioners, of doing work for the party on public time and working closely with a company he was supposed to be regulating. Ruedrich and Renkes both resigned and Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine. From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group that was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in Alaska.

Governor 2005 - Present

In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated then-Governor Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. Senator Stevens made a last-moment endorsement and filmed a TV commercial together with Palin for the gubernatorial campaign. In August, she declared that education, public safety, and transportation would be the three cornerstones of her administration. Despite spending less than her Democratic opponent, she won the gubernatorial election in November, defeating former Governor Tony Knowles 48.3% to 40.9%.

Palin became Alaska's first female governor and, at 42, the youngest in Alaskan history. She is the first Alaskan governor born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood and the first governor not inaugurated in Juneau; she chose to have the ceremony in Fairbanks instead. She took office on December 4, 2006, and has maintained a high approval rating throughout her term. She sometimes broke with the state Republican establishment. For example, she endorsed Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young. Palin also publicly challenged Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the ongoing federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as being "to make clear she had not abandoned him politically."

(Taken in parts from Wikipedia and Articles by Michelle Malkin)

Much has been written lately regarding Michelle LaVaughn Robinson – Obama’s attitude and heart toward America. We’ve all heard the "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country” and similar comments. I have just completed reading her college thesis paper that has been the focus of much attention in this regard. I got my copy from a posting on Politico (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8642.html). The only thing I can say for certain after reading Mrs. Obama’s work is “wow, what a snoozer”. The thesis is nearly 100 pages of convoluted nonsense, ending in conclusions based on dubious research and multiple false interpretations of meaningless numbers.   Jeffry Ressner of The Politico (http://www.politico.com/) writes “Michelle Obama's senior year thesis at Princeton University, obtained from the campaign by Politico, shows a document written by a young woman grappling with a society in which a black Princeton alumnus might only be allowed to remain "on the periphery."” [Italics added] What it really shows is a young angry black racist woman who got away with writing a college thesis based upon nothing but conjecture and opinion. The entire work is based on the notion that if you are Black and go to college, you have an obligation to “help” the poor Blacks who never got the same chance as you. Mrs. Obama’s premise is that Blacks have an inherent and inseparable obligation to use their good fortune as college graduates reaching out for the rest of their lives to the less fortunate. In her introduction Michelle states:

“Earlier in my college career, there was no doubt in my mind that as a member of the Black community I was somehow obligated to this community and would utilize all of my present and future resources to benefit this community first and foremost. My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my “Blackness” than ever before. I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really didn’t belong. Regardless of the circumstances underwhich I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be Black first and a student second.”

Mrs. Obama asserts that for Blacks attending college, there are 2 paths through and beyond. The first and best path is integration. Integration defined as living among them but never becoming one of them. The second and less desirable path is assimilation. Assimilation defined as growing more like them, working in concert for the common good of all America (This would be the Uncle Tom approach to - life according to Michelle). Mrs. Obama believes that in order to be a good Black in society one must never let go of the struggle no matter the opportunities and blessings bestowed upon you. The good Black will always be focused on the struggle and never completely become woven into the fabric of American society because in so doing one losses their Black identity. Blacks who focus on family, career, God or country and become contributing members of the society at large have lost their Blackness.

These experiences have made it apparent to me that the path I have chosen to follow by attending Princeton will likely lead to my further integration and/or assimilation into a White cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant. [Italics added]  This realization has presently, made my goals to actively utilize my resources to benefit the Black community more desirable.”

After completing “research” on a mere 89 respondents to her 19 question survey, Michelle dejectedly concludes that:

            “I began this study questioning my own attitudes as a future alumnus. I wondered whether or not my education at Princeton would affect my identification with the Black community. I hoped that these findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of identification with Whites as a result of the educational and occupational path that Black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a certain level of identification with the Black community. However, these findings do not support this possibility.

            Findings show that some respondents did experience a change in their attitudes over the periods of time indicated in this study. By studying respondents who did change, it was shown that respondents’ experiences while attending Princeton caused their identification with Blacks and the Black community to increase as their identification with Whites and the White community decreased. However, after Princeton, respondents experienced the opposite change in attitude; their identification with Blacks and the Black community decreased as their identification with Whites and the White community increased. Thus, these findings suggest that respondents who experienced change as a result of their Princeton experiences are likely to identify less with Blacks and the Black community in comparison to Whites and the Whites community.”

Thus, Americans have the entire context with which to evaluate the fitness of Michelle Obama to be the next “First Lady” of the United States of America. I realize of course that we are not voting for “First Lady”; but to the extent that personal character pervades the thoughts and feelings of a mother and wife, this thesis provides the background to understanding who she is and from where she is coming. Know too that the modern “First Lady” expects to contribute to the term in office by accepting various rolls up to and including cabinet level input. Note: Hillery Clinton's claim that her "experience" is based upon serving with hubby Bill during his administration.  Michelle claimed that her statements and comments have been taken out of context. These writings belie the voracity of that statement. Michelle Obama is indeed a person who believes firmly in her Black roots, and in the struggle of the Black community as defining her personhood and in the goodness of the cause of fighting for Black struggles over the common American struggle. To Michelle Obama, the fight for Black issues is a higher calling than the fight for a better and more just America. To Michelle Obama, American interests will always take a back seat to the Black agenda. This is not my opinion. This is the conclusion drawn from a thorough dissection of Mrs. Obama’s own writings from not so many years ago. If Barak Obama thinks anything like his wife (and we know he does) there is grave danger ahead should they be elected to the highest office of our land.